


This is Gospel

by SmolTownFangirl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Badly, FUCK, Hurt Lance (Voltron), I destroyed his character in order to write this, I'm trying, Keith is a cop, Klance is low key minor, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Langst, Like, Lotor baby I'm so sorry, Lotor runs a gang, M/M, No Sexual Content, OOC Lotor, Please like this, REALLY BADLY, Stripper fic, TW: Kidnapping, The Galra - Freeform, This is a stripper fic, Tw: He gets his ass beat, Violence, lance is a stripper, long fic, named
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 11:52:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15096155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolTownFangirl/pseuds/SmolTownFangirl
Summary: ...For the fallen ones, locked away in permanent slumber.He could feel the wandering eyes of the Galra on his back, but Lance had already payed his protection.





	This is Gospel

**Author's Note:**

> Boy howdy, this is a ride. A special thanks to @Langstpalooza on tumblr for helping inspire this fic. Think of this fic as a hype for the actual langstpalooza! Another special thanks to Bay (@alliaskofyou on tumblr) for beta-ing a majority of this fic! Anyway, I hope you enjoy- and please. Heed the trigger warnings.

Lance cringed as he walked along the cold pathway of Seamans Street. He could feel the wandering eyes of the Galra on his back, but Lance had already payed his protection. They wouldn’t fuck with him. He pulled the fuzzy jacket over his work uniform. Uniform was putting it lightly. The booty shorts cupped his ass perfectly, and the body glitter was everywhere. His light blue tank top hung off his frame in a way that made him look more innocent than he was. After all, he wondered, how could he be innocent while working a stripper gig?

Logically Lance knew that the gig was probably the only thing saving his shitty apartment from being broken into and robbed. After all, the Galra owned The Empire, and he was paying his tribute with his body. He grumbled as he unlocked his apartment door. The place was falling apart, but it was the best he could do while working two jobs. He groaned as he realized something.

His antidepressants cost about 90 a bottle. He’d need to pick up another job. He briefly thought about texting Hunk to see if his best friend knew any high paying places open. He dismissed the idea after realizing that Hunk was in finals and would probably be busy for the rest of the week. Damn Hunk and his college education. He looked around the apartment, his mind trailing back to Christian. He sighed. He didn’t really wanna think about that right now.

He rolled his shoulders, slipping off his shirt and shorts as he stepped in the cold water of his shower. Looks like his heating was turned off again. He sighed in a pseudo-content as he ran his hand through his wet hair, massaging it gently with the rose scented shampoo Christian had once given him. As he washed himself he got lost in his thoughts once again.

He didn’t really enjoy where he was at, at the moment. When his parents kicked him out for being pan he had immediately moved to Uehara City- the biggest city in America. The most crime infested place in America. Why did he think it was a good idea? Right. Hunk was studying at UAC in the nicer part of town, and Lance would kill for his best friend. When they had met online in their freshman year of highschool they had hit it off immediately with all of their fandom jokes and bad fanfiction taste. Now, at 21, Lance wouldn’t take back a day of what he has to go through just to stay in the same town as Hunk.

  
He shivered under the spray of ice water, as he counted the ways his life went downhill. Before now, he had a loving family, an amazing education, a promising future. He frowned. It wasn’t all bad. He had Hunk, Nyma, Shay, Kylee, and the rest of his friends. Allura from down the street was pretty cool, too.

  
Wait. Allura. Allura ran a small cafe named The Altean. The Altean was probably the nicest thing about this side of town. The galra didn’t touch Allura’s cafe- after all, her dad was chief of police and no way in hell were they chancing getting caught just to put her in her place. He grinned as he thought about how maybe he could finally have a stable working job that would pay enough so that he could afford heat _and_ the apartment. Not to say that the Library didn’t pay, just that it didn’t pay enough. And half of his salary from The Empire was going to his protection fee.

 

He stopped the water, leaning out to grab a rough, dry, towel and his clothes. He put his hair up in a towel as he put on his cheap face mask. It wasn’t the best, but it was something and he was forever grateful for the sense of normality it brang to him. Slipping into his fuzzy Hello Kitty pajamas and a ratty old t-shirt he never gave back to Hunk. He put water in an instant ramen cup and placed it in the microwave. The time read 6 am. Almost time for his morning pills.

  
Allura’s place opened now. He’d swing by in the morning to get some coffee and to apply for the job opening. As of now though, he waited for the timer on the microwave to go off, sinking into his skin. It wasn’t his fault he was like this. It was the fucking depression that haunted his bones and made him non functional. But he had to be functional if he wanted to survive. That’s what the meds were supposed to do. He jumped out of his thoughts as the microwave went off.

 

Slurping the soup he scrolled through the local news. Another gang robbing. A riot six blocks down from his apartment. Hunk and Kylee were featured for their work on Quantum physics. The hacker ‘Pidge Gunderson’ hacked another bank. Police Chief Alfor Bello congratulated Takashi Shirogane on his promotion in the force. The usual shit.

 

He sighed, finishing the soup as he read an article about Galra activity. It was wild how everyone on the nicer side of town thought that they could just be taken down just like that. They couldn’t. They really couldn’t. He stretched, heading into his room to get dressed for the day. God. He was gonna need so much coffee.

 

He slipped into his gray long-sleeve shirt, combating the cold outside with the warmth of his clothes. He pulled on a pair of worn out blue jeans and some old high tops. He brushed his hair and his teeth as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. Next were the pills.

 

Lance kind of hated the small orange bottle that was in his hand. He knew that meds were meant to help, but honestly? He couldn’t afford to have meds at the moment. He only got them because Hunk asked him to. The actual doctors appointment was free of charge- Hunk had him covered by being friends with the doctor’s daughter- but that didn’t mean the pills and the rest of the appointments would be. But life was a show and the show must go on. He swallowed two pills dry.  He pretended to feel different. Like if he could just pretend hard enough then he could be okay.

He smiled at himself in the mirror, trying not to cringe at the bags under his eyes and the chappedness of his lips. He’d be fine if he could just make it through the day. He would be. He turned away, grabbing his jacket from the hook on the bathroom door. His hands shook as he opened the door, and made his way through the apartment. He could do this. Another job wouldn’t be that bad. He’d still be okay.

He grabbed the spare resume he kept on the kitchen counter and exited his small apartment. Down the street and two blocks up, nestled between a book store and a sex shop stood The Altean. Allurra’s cafe was actually the nicest thing about this part of town, with its silver and blue finish. He always thought it was the prettiest thing in Uehara city, with its plants in the window and nice, relaxing jasmine smell. He inhaled the scent walking through the doors of The Altean.

“Just a moment!” Allura’s voice carried over from the back.

“No need to rush, ‘Llura.” Lance chuckled. “It’s just me.”

Allura popped her head out the back. “Lance! I didn’t know you could even wake up this early!”

“I usually don’t.” He smiled at her, making his way to the counter. “But, I’m job hunting today. The library doesn’t pay enough, you know?”

Allura hummed stepping out of the back and gliding towards Lance. Her flower tattoos seemed to shine under the warm fluorescent light, “Ah, so what will it be?”

“A job, please.”

“Oh!” Allura smiled. “I completely blanked there for a moment. No wonder you came in this early. Do you have a resume?”

“Yeah.” Lance smiled. “Here you go. Oh! And one iced coffee please.”

Allura smiled at him, preparing the drink as he took a seat at the table nearest to the counter. It was silent besides the soft sounds of Allura making a coffee. He let his mind drift to the world around him. Despite it only having been a day or two away from the cafe, there were three new plants in it. One was a flowery purple plant hanging above. The others weretwo small cacti on the counter next to the register. One of the cacti had a red bulb thingy on it, and honestly, Lance thought it was very cute. The whole placed kind of screamed ‘Allura’.

“Lance, Iced Coffee is ready.” Allura smiled at him handing him back his coffee and his resume. “I also won’t require an interview, but you gotta start today - or at least start training today.”

Lance beamed at her. “Thanks Allura! This is gonna save my ass!”

The door jingled as he and Allura talked about work schedule and hours he could work on. Neither Lance or Allura looked up as footsteps got closer until the person behind them cleared their throat. Lance startled, turning quickly as Allura smiled at the person. “Ah Keith! You’re on Coffee run today?”

The guy behind Lance nodded. He was close to Lance’s height- maybe an inch shorter, give or take - with fair skin and a black mullet. Honestly, it didn’t look bad on him, which was weird because mullets looked bad on everybody. What caught Lance was his eyes. They were dark and deep and looked on the verge of purple. He looked amazing. Lance gulped, noticing a police uniform he was dressed in. Fuck he looked good in that. Lance grinned at him as the officers - Keith’s his brain supplied- eyes dragged on him.

“Lance.” Allura said, breaking the moment between the two boys. “You should head on to the back, we probably have a uniform that will fit you there.”

Lance startled. “Alright.”

Allura and Keith chatted as Allura made seven coffees. Lance stood with his back to the door, pulse raising slightly. Keith was stunning. Beautiful. What the hell was he doing? He rubbed his face trying to clear the moment from his head. Just a tiny bit of eye contact and he was more flustered than he had ever been. God, he was a mess.

He looked around, finding the employe uniform in a small box labeled “Clothes!!” in Allura’s fancy script handwriting. The light blue shirt with The Altean logo on it, was honestly not as ugly as it could have been. The color was soothing and Lance kind of thought it made him glow. At least, it made him look less tired. He was kind of thankful that Allura had given him the job - but he felt kind of bad. He had completely lied on his resume about never having worked as an ‘exotic dancer’ or some other form of sex worker, but he wasn’t about to face prejudice for what he had to do to make sure that he could live.

Though he didn’t think it was living, so much as it was surviving.

But he would survive, and he would live. Once he got his act together and started functioning on an actual level - not just gliding from day to day trying to stay awake - he would live the best life he could. A life that could happen if he kept trying.

A life where he was settled down with someone - didn’t really matter who as long as they made him smile - with a couple of kids, somewhere that's green and near the beach. Maybe he’d have his family back, or his older siblings would come visit him. He would be happy, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, in a place where The Galra were a bad dream and he could work one job and provide enough for his family that he wouldn’t have to take a second one. Or a third for that matter. He wouldn’t have to take medicine - he would have found ways to work without it. He would be okay and amazing. He’d take photos and play with his kids and be happy.

However, that wasn’t now. Now was the back of The Altean changing into a baby blue shirt to work another job in which he’d get even less sleep than he already did. He was gonna have a good life someday, but for now, he was going to have to make do. He walked out of the room and struck a pose for Allura, smiling at her, “How do I look? Beautiful? Magnificent? Its okay, I already know I’m perfect.”

Allura snorted at him, pulling him over to her side of the counter. “Yes, yes, you’re beautiful-ly magnificent, Lance. Now come on, we have about thirty minutes until morning rush and you need to be prepared for it.”

The morning spun by painfully fast for Lance. The training itself was fairly simple, since he already knew what was happening. This wasn’t his first rodeo with cafes, and he was just happy Allura low-key had the same menu as Starbucks but just better quality. By the end of the rush, he has about three hours before he had to be at the Library for his afternoon shift. Who knew that coffee shop rushes lasted from 8:00 - 12:00. Lance certainly had never experienced anything quite as intense. He glanced at Allura.

“How did you do that by yourself for the first two years?”

“Well,” Allura smiled at him, “I wasn’t alone for the first year. My uncle Coran - who’s currently on vacation in London again - was here for the first year. You only started coming right when he left, but you would have loved him! He was very much a jokester like you!”

Lance, touched that Allura thought high enough of him to compare him to her uncle, spoke softly. “Honestly, he sounds amazing. I wish you had the chance to meet my sister, Vanessa, you remind me of her a lot.”

“What was she like?”

“She was kind. And very smart. She was the only one who gave me money when my parents kicked me out.”

Allura gasped. “Kicked you out?!”

“It’s no big deal.” Lance shrugged, cracking a fake grin. “Besides, better to get away from those old geezers when I’m young right?”

He knew Allura wasn’t buying the happy act, but he had to keep it on. He wasn’t about to start crying here and now - not with some snobby little thirteen year olds on their phone in the back corner of the room and some fifteen-year old prick who only ordered a black coffee and started typing away at their laptop sitting in the center of the shop. He wasn’t. So he had to smile.

A part of him hated that the smile was fake.

“Either way.” He said, stretching out his limbs. “I should get going. We can discuss hours Sunday morning right?”

Allura raised an eyebrow at him. “Wrong. I’m off Sunday. It’s the Sabbath. And besides, you’re gonna be coming in Saturday.”

“Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot. So see you tomorrow?”

“Yep.” She popped the ‘P’. “You’ll get your first paycheck then too.”

Lance smiled at her. “You’re a blessing Allura, I hope you realize that.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved him off. “Go home and get some sleep. You look like you haven’t slept in years.”

“Rude.”

“No, just true.”

Lance put his hand over his heart trying to look mortally offended. “I’ll have you know I sleep eight hours a night and that I am gorgeous.”

Allura rolled her eyes. “Get going, Lance.”

Lance waved at he before heading to the back to get his jacket and shirt. He changed out of the baby blue uniform and into his gray shirt, tugging the jacket over him. He tucked the rolled up uniform into the inside pocket. He dreaded what would happen if the owner of The Empire knew that he was working in the Cafe owned by the Chief of Police’s daughter. Oh shit! He had never considered that before this moment.

If Lotor were to find out about his involvement at The Altean, there was no way in hell he would let be put to use in ways that Lance didn’t even want to think about. Not to mention the bad beef that was boiling between his two employers. A part of him wishes he could quit the job at The Empire, but he knew that if he did the chances of him getting hurt by The Galra increased a lot.

It’s not even like he wanted to be a stripper, but it was the only way he could survive. And that made it kind of dangerous that he was now working at The Altean as well. Whatever. What Lotor and Allura didn’t know didn’t hurt them. He’d just have to be careful about it.

He made his way to his apartment with a hop in his walk, as if he was dancing on confidence. A confidence he didn’t feel, not really, but the false bravo made him comfortable so he kept it up all the way into his apartment. Once entering, he sank against the door, head swimming.

He trudged his way to the bedroom, stripping as he went. When he made it too his undershirt and his boxers, he allowed himself to fall on the bed, setting an alarm for 3:30 so that he could get up thirty minutes before his Library job. He sank into a restless sleep with the dawning feeling that someone was watching him. In his dream he saw dark, almost purple, eyes.

He woke up an hour later to a text from Macky, another employee form the library. The text was saying about how she was feeling supper hype today and could cover the entire shift by herself and that he should sleep. She was apparently under the impression that he never took care of himself. She wasn’t wrong, she just wasn’t technically right. He let himself drift back into the oblivion of sleep as he closed his alarm.

The sharp ring of his cell phone awoke him from his sleep around ten, and he jolted, realizing how dark it was outside. Answering the phone, he scrambled to get ready for work.

“Lance! Buddy!”

“Hunk.” Lance smiled at the phone. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much! You know there’s a new professor teaching my engineering class since Professor Marines is on leave - cause she’s having her baby- and honestly the new teach is so cool-“

He let Hunk ramble as he pulled off his boxers and pulled on a pair of lacy blue panties, pulling a pair of leather booty shorts along with it. He slipped into a tight fitting black t-shirt he knew the bartender liked on him, and brushed his hair. He turned to his sock drawer and pulled up some lacy black stockings. He started on his makeup as Hunk changed topics.

“Hey you should come clubbing with me and Shay, it’d be a blast!”’

Lance glanced over at the phone. “Hunk as much as I’d love too-“

“Yeah, yeah.” He could practically feel the eye roll Hunk was undoubtedly giving him. “Nine hours of sleep makes beauty.”

“And don’t you forget it!” He smirked at the mirror as he completed a light contour that made his cheekbones look better than he had seen in a long time. The bags under his eyes were much less prominent and he was forever grateful to Macky for covering his shift. He glossed over his eyelids with a light pink before completing the look with a pink lipstick Hunk had bought him a while back. Christian always said he looked best in it.

He sucked in a breath, cursing his mind for going back to Christian. He didn’t even really care for Christian, he just really didn’t want to be alone anymore. Sure, Christian was kind of just using him as a boy toy - he had constantly called Lance exotic and it made him uncomfortable to no end - but he was there. And he’d buy him nice things. But Christian was also a cheating asshole that was having sex with two other men and his secretary when he had told Lance that they were exclusive.

Christian was no big loss and Lance had bigger fish to fry. Like this cat wing.  

“Lance? Hello? Helloooo? Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes, Hunk, I am.” he faked a yawn. “But I’m really tired. I think I’m gonna go to sleep.”

“Alright then, I’ll see ya.”

“See ya Buddy.”

He pulled on his leather thigh highs and furry coat as he started to make his way down. He left his phone in the apartment- maybe not the smartest idea, but it needed to charge and he was sure it would be okay. He was under Galra protection. He kept his head down as he walked the six blocks down to The Empire.

A part of him loved the walk. The walk there made him feel kind of sexy and confident. He was a grown man taking in the world, one stripper show at a time. But the bigger part of him hated it. Hated the way men would stare and sneer at him as if he was the most fuckable thing they had ever seen. On more than one occasion a man had tried to pay him for sex, but Lance wasn’t going to go that far. Ever. At least he really hoped he wouldn’t.

He grinned at the bouncer as he was let into The Empire.

Despite the presence of strippers, the empire was actually a pretty classy joint. Gold, purple, and black color scheme ruled through the entirety and it was honestly very classy. It was the kind of place Lance probably would have gone to when he was sixteen and stupid, sneaking in under some dead rich guy’s name. It was also the kind of place where no one would’ve batted an eye at that.

He smiled at the bartender - a pretty boy named Rolo who had tried selling him cocaine the first time Lance was there - and slipped into the back room. He waited for a moment, nodding at the bodyguards in front of Lotor’s room before going down the hall and entering the dressing room.

“-So help me god, if you don’t shut up Alaysia!”

“You’ll what?!” Alaysia snapped at Maddiline, “Shove it down your throat, Mad, I don’t give a shit! He’s my man now!”

“Laddies, laddies.” Lance grinned at the girls. “What’s with the cat fights this early in the night?”

Abigail snorted leaning over to him from her stand. “Alaysia and Maddiline were dating the same guy again.”

Lance sighed. “All men are trash and you should all know this.”

All the girls in the room hollered. Lance grinned at Max who was looking at him as if he was betrayed before the two snorted at the girls’ antics. He slid into his stand - he shared one with Max, just the other side. He smiled at the older man, slipping off his furry coat.

“You’re on after me tonight.” Max said.

“Max, it’s literally the same schedule every night.” Lance rolled his eyes at him.

The man shrugged and resumed putting on cat eyes. Lance looked at himself in the mirror, glad for the fact he had already put on makeup at home and didn’t have to use the cheap shit that they supplied the dancers with at The Empire. He looking at himself he grinned, flashing himself a wink. Slipping into the sexy persona that this place always called for, he tried his best to create himself from scratch just to get past the night. If he could manage that he could manage anything.

A throat cleared at the front of the room. All eyes went to Lotor as the friendly chatter stopped abruptly.

“Lovelies,” Lotor purred at them. “So glad to see you all in costume already. As you should all know we have a show to put on tonight. So no misbehaving today.”

The same speech since Lance’s day one. He shivered as Lotor’s cold blue eyes trailed over the crew. If they caught on Lance’s face, Lance ignored it. Lotor’s smirk deepened.

“There are undercover cops here tonight.”

The entire room went stiff and tense. That wasn’t the usual.

“But as per our contract, all of you will be supplied masks. Wouldn’t want some pesky cops to stop you from receiving a paycheck now would we? Now. First round, pick up your masks and go show them what we represent here at The Empire.”

Maddiline and Alaysia got up, exchanging glances with each other, grabbing a gold mask and a red one respectively. Lotor still hadn’t left the room as one of the body guards escorted them from the room to the stage. Lotor cleared his throat.

“Lance,” the entire room froze at Lotor’s smooth calling of his name. Lance’s heart pounded against his chest, “You’re going to be the jewel tonight. Wear something blue.”

He left the room,the other bodyguard tracing after him as the rest of them stared at Lance in horror. Lotor had known his name. That only meant bad things for him. Really bad things. Oh fuck that wasn’t good. He shook as he sank into his chair.

“Well.” Lance cleared his throat, voice shaking, “I better wipe this off now, shouldn’t I?”

Abigail silently tossed him her makeup remover as business resumed in a pseudo-normal. He wiped off his makeup, reapplying with a blue glitter shadow that made his eyes stand out. He put on a red lipstick to make the blue pop out. He slipped on a blue lions mask that you could see his eyes from, that still covered a good half of his face. That should be fine. He stood, stretching out his limbs and joints.

The hour seemed to pass like minutes and soon it was Max and Abigail’s turn out there. Sixty minutes until he was on. Fifty minutes. Forty minutes. Thirty minutes. Twenty minutes. Ten minutes. Five minutes. He walked towards the stage room and high fived both Abigail and Max as they slipped there way from the stage to the dressing room. He got in position.

The music always started calm with his set. A slow Spanish song that he didn’t know and didn’t care to. He started slow too, slowly trailing his hands over the shirt, not even trying to be innocent. He knew that Lotor liked it when the dancers where obscene. It always made him feel like a dirty slut. Hell. Christian constantly reminded him of this fact. He shook the thought from his head as the tempo in the song picked up and he swung onto a pole.

There was something good about being a stripper. It was perfect to dance like this. Freely. Wildly. Obscenely. He didn’t usually get chances like this, and he had never gotten them growing up. It wasn’t nice and pretty and he didn’t feel comfortable doing it but damn if it wasn’t one of the most freeing things he could ever do.

So that’s what he did. He gave them a show. A dirty obscene show.

He started with his shirt. pulling it over his head in flashes that revealed his tan skin, before he ripped it off of himself and got down low, back facing the audience. His shoulder blades had never failed him before and they sure didn’t fail him then. He raised his arms, looping them around the pole, before swinging himself onto it, looping his legs around the cold medal.

He made eye contact with Lotor, who pointed at a pair of men. Fuck. Keith from the coffee shop and a handsome man with white in his hair. Police.

He spread his legs twirling on the bar. He made sure to stick his ass out slightly. He made eye contact with Keith, winking at him. His partner blushed, and said something to Keith, but Keith’s eyes didn’t leave him. He looked back at Lotor, to get the okay, and Lotor nodded. So Lance got off the pole, stepping down onto a table. Two tables away from his goal. He got on all fours and pulled the man adjacent with him close, kissing his neck as those at the table put some money in his stalking. He slid off the table, looking longingly at the man he had kissed. He twirled around the second table, winking at them playfully. He arrived at his destination.

He sauntered up to Keith running his hands through the mullet as he straddled him. He dipped back, grabbing onto the man next to Keith’s tie, pulling him down to Lance’s level. He smirked, breath ghosting the handsome man's throat as he threw him up to the beat of the song. He pulled himself up, grinding down on Keith whose hands rose to his waist as if to push him farther onto his semi-hard dick. Lance grinned at the pressure in Keith’s pants.

There was something sexy and seductive about anonymously giving a police officer a lap dance.

And just like that the moment was over and he twirled back on stage, shaking his ass seductively. He tried to ignore the lingering stairs of the police officers on his body. He tried to ignore the feeling of Keith’s hands on his waist. He especially ignored how good it felt to be teasing both men at once.

He continued the dance until the last beat of the last song, where he threw his body to the ground, hoping that someone big and strong would catch him. Luckily this is exactly what happened, as Keith caught Lance. He batted his eyes up at him. “My hero.”

His voice came out at no more than a purr as he whispered the word into the man’s ear huskily. He physically felt Keith's arms tighten around him as the man gulped. He placed Lance down, gently setting him.

“You’re welcome.” His voice was a tad bit smoother than it was in the coffee shop and Lance felt he could melt under Keith's stare alone.

He turned around smirking. His hips swayed as he made his way backstage, and greeted his fellow workers.

“Lance?” Lotor called him up a few minutes after he had been on stage.

Lance went very stiff, but smiled at his boss, “Yes sir?”

“You.” Lotor drawled, eyes scrolling over Lances practically naked body. “Were a star tonight. You deserve tonight off. Tomorrow as well.”

“Sir?” Lance gaped. It was well know that Lotor didn’t give anyone nights off. Ever.

“You completely seduced those two officers. Granted I would’ve like you to do it without them touching you but -” He smirked at him “You did fantastic either way. Now. Get going.”

So Lance did. He pulled off the blue mask, and placed it at his station, grabbing his coat and wrapping it around his arms. He ignored the lingering stares of those around him as he walked out of the dressing room. He made his way through the club, head down. He didn’t want Keith to recognize him. He ignored Rolo’s look, and slipped out the front, waving goodbye to the bouncer.

Seamen’s street was even colder tonight. He tried to ignore the stares.

He didn’t even remember getting home or changing, only waking up to the sound of his 6 am alarm. He stood groggily, hobbling over to his bathroom counter. He popped in two pills, and flashed himself a smile in the mirror. He felt happy for once. He felt good. He was gonna start hashing out details of work with Allura, and he felt good.

He slipped on some clothes, just some jeans and the t-shirt that Allura had given him, and ate a banana before putting on his jacket and greeting the cold morning air. He didn’t have to fake the pep in his step today, as he grinned at the thought of seeing his best friend. It’d been a year and he still wasn’t used to the idea that he got to see his best friend in person. Grinning to himself he walked into Allura’s.

“Hey ‘Llura!” He called out to her, already making his way into the back room.

She looked at him past the boxes she was carrying in. “Lance, good timing! There are seven more boxes in the back can you get some?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Allura snorted. “You don’t have to call me boss, Lance. I’m still your friend.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever floats your boat.” Lance said, picking up three of the boxes.

The conversation stalled as Allura went back to get the other four. Honestly the girl never surprised Lance with how strong she was, and he found it a little more than hot. Too bad Allura was a boss ass lesbian, but eh, at least this way they could look at girls together. A strange kind of silence fell between the two as they started unloading the coffee beans from the box and into the storage closet.

Lance was struck with a twisting feeling in his gut. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. He glanced around, but nothing was out of place. Just him. It was just his head messing with him. It was just his head. It was just his head. But it didn’t feel like just his head. Sitting there in the silence, doing the same task over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, it felt as though something was groundbreakingly wrong.

The front door rang, and Lance jumped. Allura smiled at him as she made her way up front. Lance continued to unpack the boxes.

“You’re not welcome in this shop.” Allura’s voice was like ice as it carried all the way to the back.

Lance tensed, fearing the worst. Was it Lotor? It couldn’t have been. Lotor knew better than to step into Allura’s coffee shop. But there weren’t any other people he knew of who weren’t welcome in the shop.

“Chill babe.” a very familiar voice rang. “I’m just here for a coffee. And maybe your number beautiful.”

Christian. Holy shit. Christian was in the shop.

He stepped out of the back room, making eye contact with Christian. He looked the same. Pale skin, blonde hair, light blue eyes. God. What had Lance ever seen in him.

“Oh, Lancey! How is my favorite.” His voice purred the word as his eyes roamed up and down Lance’s body. “Baby boy?”

“I am not your favorite anything, Christian.” Lances voice rang out stronger than he felt.

“Now don’t play like that Lance.” Christian leaned over the counter a tad bit more, “You know how ugly you look when you’re angry.”

Lance frowned but said nothing. Christian smirked. “But then again, I do like it when you get angry. Something about seeing you being a hot-headed Cuban stereotype turns me on-“

“That is enough!” Allura growled, drawing their attention back to her, “Leave my Cafe immediately!”

“How about.” Christian sauntered his way over to Lance, making sure to pull himself to his full height. A good three inches above Lance. It was intimidating, “I take this pretty thing to the back, and you can join us after awhile.”

Christian looped his fingers through Lance’s belt loop, smiling at him. Lance recoiled but Christians grip was strong. This was not how he expected his second day at work to go. This was not how he expected any day to go.

“Get your hands off me, Christian.”

“Lancey, baby, come on.” Christian tsked. “You know you love me.”

“You fucking cheated on me. With four other people.”

“Hailey doesn’t count, since I cheated on her with you, but what is you’re point?”

“My point.” Lance ground out. “Is that your a cheating douchebag and I hate you. Now, for the love of god, get your hands off me!”

Christians hand slid lower down his jeans, making it know that Christian was very much grabbing his ass. “You know you like it.”

“I believe -” Keith’s voice rang out loud and clear amongst the quietness of the coffee shop. “He told you to get your hands off of him.”

Christian’s head whipped around and he cursed under his breath. “Look man, I’m not asking for any trouble-“

“Get your hands off of him and there won’t be any trouble.” Keith’s voice was demanding, “I’m with UPD. If you don’t take your hands off of him now, I’ll take you down to the station with me for harassment.”

That got Christian’s hands out of Lance’s pants real fast. He held them up, scowling at the police officer and walking away from Lance. He glared at Keith as he passed him, walking through the door. Lance collapsed onto a chair.

“Holy fucking shit.” He sighed into his hands. “That was awful.”

Keith came over towards him as Allura rushed to his side. Allura looked a few shades pale.

“Lance, I’m so sorry I didn’t stop him from touching you!” She said the words frantically.

Lance smiled at her. “Allura, it’s fine! I think you handled that pretty well.”

He turned to Keith. “And you sir, are my hero.”

Keith got a strange look on his face, but just nodded. The three stayed like that in silence as Lance regained his composure. God, he felt awful.

Christian was the worst to deal with. He always had been. Lance honestly didn’t know what he had seen in the guy when they first started dating. Christian was a well oiled machine that produced dickhead, if he was being honest. So what if he was loaded, he was awful. He made racist comments, and he kept telling Lance to act more feminine - and that’s not even getting started on what he did with that stupid slut Hailey behind Lance’s back. Not to mention the other guys. But he had never thought Christian would take it as far as to harass him in a public place.

He felt kind of relieved, knowing that Keith was there to help. He glanced at the police officer, admiring the fact that he could just step in so seamlessly. Honestly, it made Lance’s day to see that.

“Anyway.” Allura cleared her throat. “You’re here for the usual right?”

Keith nodded, his eyes leaving Lance for a moment to meet Allura’s. He looked at Lance again, holding his stair. Lance kind of wanted to shiver under the dark eyes.

“Does that happen often?” Keith asked him.

Lance snorted, “Does my ex boyfriend come into work and harass me in front of a police officer and my boss often? No, no it doesn’t happen often.”

“Ex-boyfriend?” Keith smiled lightly. “You have terrible taste in men.”

“You’re telling me.”

“I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.” Keith grinned. “I’m Keith Kogane.”

“Lance Sanchez.” Lance grinned at him-

The morning flew by in a breeze and soon enough it was afternoon. The afternoon faded away into the night and the night faded away to dawn. They days seemed to melt together after a certain point. It was nice. It was really nice. Keith had became a part of his daily routine, and working with Allura was more fun than he could ever imagine. (“I’m from texas,” Keith said, “I grew up with horses and shit. My dad used to joke me and my mom were from a different planet because none of the horses liked us.” Lance’s smile grew three times, “You were a space cowboy! Like Akria! From Vixtron!” “Um… whats Vixtron?” “Oh my god.”) Though Hunk was technically out of school he was still working on his Quantum physics project with Kylee, so Lance still barely saw him. There calls lasted for hours though, when Lance had the time. Or when the library was just quiet enough. Keith was a nice surprise. (“No seriously,” Lance raised an eyebrow, “Why the fuck do you have a mullet?” Keith made a mock offended noise, “It’s called fashion, Lance!”) Every morning he’d come into Allura’s and every morning they talked more and more. Sometimes Keith and his partner - who had later been introduced to Lance as Takashi Shirogane - would come back to the club. (He tried not to make a note of how responsive Keith always was to the show. Keith didn’t know this was the same Lance that made fun of him every morning and joked with him when they ran into each other outside of their work.) If he was honest, those nights were always the best. Because it wasn’t someone who was paying for him to come and dance with them during a part of the show, it was Keith. And that somehow made Lance feel better about it. The two months had been perfect. Which brought him back to reality.

“-And me and Ky are getting a whole tour!” Hunk squealed over the phone.

Lance smiled at his best friends enthusiasm. “I’m excited for you dude! It's not every day you get to meet and work with world renowned scientist, Samuel Holt!”

“Honestly? I’m still shaking - god you should have seen Shay’s face when I told her. She was so proud of me! I swear one day I’m gonna marry her. It sucks that I’ll be leaving for three months though, huh?”

“Yeah.” Lance did an over dramatic sigh. “My brave knight leaving me all by my lonesome!”

Hunk snorted and Lance heard a rustling in the background. “Yeah, as if Keith isn’t your brave knight.”

“I resent that. Me and Keith are just friends.”

“Sure. Either way, this entire trip is being set up to leave within the next two days, and we have a lot to prepare for, so I might not be able to talk a lot. I’ll call when I reach California though!!”

“Of course buddy.” Lance smiled at the phone, eyes darting around the library. “I’m seriously so proud of you.”

“I’m proud of myself too, Lance. Do you think if we went back and told our younger selves where we were now they would believe it?”

“Nah.” Lance smiled. “When we met you hadn’t come out as being trans yet, remember? Like… you came out to me, then Tommy, and then Orion, and then the rest of the world. And I was still living with my family and getting jumped for being ‘fruity’ every few days. God, childhood was wild.”

Hunk snorted, “God, we were fucked up as kids.”

The two continued their banter, reminiscing on childhood memories. (“Remember Vixtron? God that show was awful, and yet we were in love with it,” Hunk snorted. “Were? Hunk you act like we don’t still cry over Akira and Lancelot.”) The conversation was the kind they didn’t usually have. Their younger years were bad. For both of them. Hunk was suffering in silence and Lance was just too flamboyant for the place he grew up in. But this wasn’t a remembrance of the bad times, this was them making fun of their younger selves. (“Hey Hunk,” Lance knew the smirk was audible, “Remember ‘Soul twins’?” Hunk groaned.) It was nice. Friendly in a way that the two usually didn’t remember it with.

A noise at the front of the Library caught Lance’s attention, “Hey Hunk? Looks like I’m gonna have to go. Call me when you can, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. See you later, alligator.”

“In a while crocodile.”

He hung up the phone as he removed himself from the counter, leaving his phone there. He made his way towards the entrance of the Library, hoping to find someone that needed help looking for a section and not a fourteen year old dick bag who just wanted to get high and didn’t know where else to go. It was neither of those things.

Keith stood at the opening doors of the library, looking awkward and out of place. He was out of uniform for once, dressed up in a red plaid shirt and some worn out blue jeans. Lance thought he looked kind of handsome.

“Keith! Now to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing my favorite police officer?” Lance grinned at him, leaning against the bookshelf.

Keith rolled his eyes a fond smile on his face. “Lance I’m pretty sure I’m the only police officer you know.”

“Not true- I know Shiro.”

“Shiro doesn’t count. That man isn’t even human if you ask me.”

“Dude.” Lance snorted. “That’s your brother.”

“What’s your point?”

The two shared a laugh before Keith cleared his throat. “I was- well… I was um, I was actually here to ask you something.”

Lance grinned. “Shoot, space cowboy.”

“Would you ever wanna, um, I don't know, uh, maybe catch a movie with me?”

Lance blinked in surprise a blush rising to his cheeks. Catch a movie? With Keith? Keith, who was super adorable and pretty awkward and loud and rude and funny? He had thought about it. He wouldn’t lie when he said he had a crush on the man - had a crush on him since that day with Christian. But this was kinda out of nowhere.

Keith gulped, “I mean! You don’t have to- It’s not that big of a-”

“No- No! I want to.” Lance took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’d love to go see a movie with you. Is dinner also involved?”

Keith grinned, a bright blush on his cheeks. “Yes, dinner would also be involved. I can pick you up tomorrow? At seven?”

“Sounds perfect.” Lance smiled.

“So um. I’ll text you the details?”

“Yeah, of course my dude.” Lance was smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. “I um, I should probably get back to work.”

“Yeah… yeah!” Keith’s blush became even stronger. “See you later?”

Lance winked. “Bye bye, space cowboy.”

Keith waved with a stupidly - in - love look on his face as he stumbled over his own two feet trying to exit the building. As he left he turned back and waved at Lance again, who grinned stupidly and waved back in response. He turned around, spinning, a hop in his step as he went back to the desk.

He paused.

Standing in the middle of the library was Lotor, with two guards that he recognized from the Empire. He stared at the trio in a slight panic. Lotor wasn’t known to do much outside of the club… and to come to a place Lance worked… well. That couldn’t be right. He knew the special treatment Lotor was giving him lately felt fishy, and this must have been that.  

“Ah, Lance. Perfect. Just who I wanted to see.” Lotor’s smile was borderline sadistic.

His eyes raked up and down Lances body, and, suddenly, Lance felt naked under the gaze. He pulled his sweater a little tighter over himself. He shouldn’t have left his jacket at home today. He sighed.

“Lotor-“

“Quiet, Star.” He snapped, “You have been a very naughty boy, haven’t you?”

Lance gulped, stepping back. “Lotor I-“

“Associating with all sorts of scum. Allura Bello? Really? And Keith Kogane and Takashi Shirogane.” Lotor spat their names in disgust. “Now, now Lance. You should know by now that once you sign on with The Galra, you never leave it.”

Lotor took a step towards him. “Do they know? Do they even know about the work you do? About how you’re not afraid to bend over like a slut?!”

Lance didn’t respond, looking down. Lotor took another step towards him. “Answer me, Star.”

“No. They don’t.”

“Why not?! Why not tell them about all the dirty shit you do?!”

Lance didn’t respond, his nails biting into his skin as he kept his head down. His head was spinning. Was he going to be hurt? Keith… Keith was still near here. Maybe he could contact him somehow - get a way to be saved.

“Because you know how badly they’d look upon you if they knew how much of a whore you are. Isn’t that right?”

What sucked even more than Lotor saying it was the fact that it was true. Keith… Keith and him had something going, and, if he knew that Lance was a stripper at The Galra, then… he wouldn’t even wanna talk to Lance ever again. Allura would kick him out. Or have him arrested. They wouldn’t be friends they wouldn’t even be acquaintances. Allura would drop him. And Hunk - he knew Hunk’s opinion of both strippers and The Galra. Hunk was the only family he had; he couldn’t lose him. But he would. He would lose all of them if they knew about how much of a fucking slut he was. About what he did. Every night.

His voice broke. “Yeah. That’s right.”

Lotor tsked. “Cut contact with them-“

Lances head snapped up. “You cannot expect me to-“

“Shut up. Stay silent, Little Star.”

Lances mouth snapped shut as he stared at Lotor in absolute horror.

“Either you comply with my wishes, or something worse happens to you. I don’t want you talking to that damn police officer. I don’t want you to associate with that fucking scum. You belong to the Galra. So you belong to me. And you most definitely do not have a choice.”

“And what if I,” Lance cleared his throat. “And what if I refuse? What if I want to take my life back into my hands?”

Lotor grinned, nasty and evil. “Try it and no one will find their body.”

A shiver went down Lances spine as he shrank back away from Lotor.

He knew how bad The Galra were. Logically he knew they were evil and awful and capable of murder. But working at The Empire had given him a softer perspective of The Galra. After all, when anyone tried to get too handsy, Lotor would kick them out. There was no selling hard drugs to minors - something Lotor made sure to check. He had always presented himself as such a nice guy, and yet here he was threatening to murder those Lance cared about just because Lance wanted to be friends with them. He felt sick as he tried to think. What could he do? He really didn’t have any options. He had nothing.

The Galra would murder Keith, Allura, Hunk… everyone Lance associated with. Just because Lance said no to Lotor. Just because Lance belonged to The Galra.

“Lance.” Lotor growled. “Pay attention when I speak to you.”

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” Lance muttered as fast as he could.

Lotor shuffled towards him. “You belong to us Lance. To me. You, Star, are mine alone.”

“Actually.” Lotors eyes had a mad glint in them. “I’m going to give you an option! Come with me, live with me, love me. Worship me. You will live with me and you won’t even have to work. You can stay with me and recognize me as the god I am. Or I could kill you. Choose which.”

Lance stepped back, putting his hands up. “What-“

“Choose Lance,” Lotor snarled. “Choose now!”

“Um-”

“Too late.” Lotor laughed.

His bodyguards surged forward and Lance’s jumped back. He ran bolting through the book shelves trying to evade them. He bolted left throwing down books around him. He couldn’t breath but he needed to leave.

The emergency exit was seventeen shelves away.

He stopped, hiding behind the YA book shelves. No one ever read those, so the shelf was still perfectly full. He inhaled, praying that he had lost them. There was a bang as a book behind Lance’s head was pulled away and his hair was gripped. He let out a scream, something brutal and primal as the bodyguard ripped at his scalp. He felt the grip loosen a bit- as if it was startled by the scream, and Lance bolted.

One shelf, two shelves, he could feel one of the bodyguards trailing him impossibly close but not yet touching him. He still had a chance at this. Three shelves, four shelves, fuck there was a noise to the side of him. He jolted swinging as he rammed into a shelf. Fuck that would leave a bruise. Five, six, seven shelves - he could feel his body go into autopilot as he slammed a shelf down. A hand grabbed at his sweater but he plowed forward. He lost count of how many shelves passed him as he ran with the two bodyguards directly behind him but he could see red. He could see the exit sign. He was almost free.

A hand grabbed his neck and he choked, falling to the floor in pain. A kick to his ribs and he was crying out - tears that had been welling in his eyes finally breaking the damn and escaping. He let out a strangled sob as he kicked his legs up, trying to put up a fight. Trying to do something that would help him escape. Another blow - this time to his stomach and he heard Lotor speak.

“Do!” A kick to the face. “Not!” A blow to the ribs again. “Ever!” He felt something split open as Lotors ring caught his side. “Fucking!” Pain erupted from his hand as lotor crushed it. “Run!” A crack was heard but all lance could feel was intense pain. “From!” Lotor’s boot came down upon his face. “Me!” Lance couldn’t tell what Lotor did only that it burned. “Again!”

Lotor spat at him, gripping Lance’s hair, forcing him to look his captor in the eye. “Do you understand me, Lance? Do you fucking understand me when I say not to run? Because if you ever have the balls to do that again, I won’t hesitate to put a fucking bullet in your brain.”

Lance cried out in a mixture of pain and horror, trying damn hard to fight against him. But all of his energy was gone. He was alone on this one and he didn’t see a way out.

“Now, Little Star.” Lotor growled. “Sleep.”

Lotor slammed his head into the library floor and everything went black.

He woke up in satin. The purple fabric encased him, as he awoke trying to ignore the blaring headache. He sat up, cringing at the feeling he got in his chest and lungs. What the fuck….. where was he? Cold erupted through his skin as he recalled the events that happened… fuck what time was it? What day was it? He stood, noticing the fact that he was in completely different clothes. They were a dark purple- almost black- elegant shirt and accompanying shorts. They felt too stuck up to be his normal sweaters and jacket. He suddenly realized what this meant. Lotor has changed his fucking clothes while Lance was passed out - Lance prayed that changing his clothes was the only thing Lotor did.

He tried to stand only to realize that his hand was chained to the bed. Fuck. Fuck. No, no, no. The severity of the situation scared the shit out of Lance. He wasn’t sure how long it had been, how long he had been missing. He wasn’t sure if anyone knew that Lance was gone, that Lance had been forcibly taken by Lotor. Did Keith know.. Did Keith know he was missing? Did anyone? He couldn’t breathe. He couldn't breathe. What was happening? His head was spinning as he forcibly tried to take in air. Panic was swirling in his head, only heightened but the chain he was attached too. He couldn't do this - what could he do? He couldn’t escape - not without help, and, right now, it felt like he wouldn’t ever get help.

His chest burned with the effort that was breathing, let alone the hyperventilating that was currently happening. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to do. Something was terribly wrong with him, and he wanted to scream, but he couldn’t find his voice. Panic engulfed his senses. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. He tried pulling away from the bindings that kept him chained, but he was weak and hyperventilating and he didn’t know what to do. The door opened but he couldn’t make out who it was through the tears in his eyes. A soft voice came over to him, whispering sweet things in his ear. He could do this. He would be okay. He would be fine. He would be okay.

His breathing evened out under the instructions of the person, and he eventually regained his composure enough to realize what was happening around him. He recoiled. He glared at Lotor, who sat right next to him, touching his shoulder in a comforting gesture. He felt panic bubbling in him again, but he refused to get dragged back in. He spat his words at Lotor. “Fuck you.”

Lotor had the balls to look hurt. “Now, now, Star, don’t say those things.”

“You kidnapped me.” Lance looked away from the disgusting man in front of him. “You kidnapped me and you expect me to be grateful.”

“Yes.” Lotor snarled at him, temper flaring. “I do expect you to be grateful. I saved your life.”

“You were the one who threatened to take it!”

Lotors grip on him tighten and Lance squealed in pain. “Don’t test me, Star.”

Lance shrunk down, realizing that he probably wouldn’t get out of here alive. He had to do something, come up with something. Make a plan or some way to get out of here because he couldn’t, he physically couldn’t do it. He couldn’t sit here and force himself to be buddies with the man that kidnapped him. He couldn’t play nice. So he was probably going to die. He took a deep breath but didn’t respond to Lotor.

Lotor hummed. “You must be starving, my Star. After all, it’s been a day since you’ve eaten, yes? That is assuming that you ate the day I rescued you from the clutches of those scum.”

Lance wanted to throw up. Lotor legitimately thought he rescued Lance. He didn’t. He forced Lance here, and he thought it was a rescue. Lance wanted to hurl, but he swallowed his disgust, knowing he’d probably get hurt if he stayed silent. “I’m not hungry.”

“Come now, Star.” Lotors voice was condescending. “Don’t play with me. We both know you are starving.”

Something about the way Lotor spoke made shivers run down Lance’s spine. It was like the man was saying something completely different by tone alone. Despite his words, something told Lance that he would have a choice no matter how sick he felt. He’d have to force down food. If he wanted even a small chance of surviving he had to listen to Lotor. He didn’t know if he could do it. Not playing nice was one thing, but if he didn’t listen well…. there was nothing Lotor hated more than those who didn’t listen. Lance cleared his throat. “I’m kind of hungry.”

Lotor beamed at him and the sick feeling in his stomach bubbles up to his chest. “Very good, Star!”

Lotor presses a button on his phone, smiling at Lance as if they were a young couple on a date. He hated this. Lance hated the powerlessness that came over him, that distraughtness that he felt at the realization that Lotor genuinely thought Lance was into this. Lance was not into this. Lance was so very not into this.

The door opened and a woman in a high ponytail grinned at them both and placed down a plate with all sorts of cheeses and grapes. Lotor smiles at her. “Thank you. That will be all.”

And then once again it was just Lotor and him. Lotor turned to him, a soft smile on his face and Lance wanted to deck him. Lotor hummed and held up a grape. Lance didn’t follow. After about three minutes of sitting there in a tense silence, Lotor finally looked annoyed. “Do you want food or not?!”

“I want food.” Lance said quickly, survival instincts kicking in for him. “Of course I want food.”

“Then open your damn mouth.”

Lance obeyed despite the warning bells that swam in his head. The last person to say that had been Christian, and that was honestly not a good memory considering Lance found out he was cheating that day. He tried not to flinch as Lotor placed the grape in his mouth. He chewed, weirded out by the fact that Lotor was feeding him.

Lotor smiled, “Good now-”

His phone rang and Lotor muttered a curse. He shot a glare at Lance. “If you move or try anything-”

“I’ll get killed.”

“Killed is such an ugly word, Star.”

The fact that Lotor didn’t correct him made him shrink down. Killed is such an ugly word and yet here he is, sitting in the bed of a man who forcibly kidnapped him. Lotor left without another sound and Lance had to bite his lip. He wasn’t going to cry just because he knew there was very little he could do. He wasn’t going to cry. He was going to stand strong and tall, and, when he got out of here he’d run away with Hunk, - Hunk. Of course it was Hunk that broke the damn and flooded him with tears. The thought of his best friend made him curl into a ball. Would Hunk even know? Would Hunk even notice he wasn’t answering any texts or calls? Would he assume that Lance was mad at him,- would he,- what would he,- what would he think of Lance when he learned of all the shit Lance did that led him to this?

That was under the presumption that anyone came looking. He kind of doubted it. Of course the logical part of him knew that Allura had probably already contacted the police and Keith was probably freaking out, but a bigger part of him dreaded the idea that they didn’t know yet. That they would never know. That they would assume Lance skipped town or something. He wanted to scream at the idea of no one coming to save him. He knew for a fact he couldn’t save himself, not with the way his ribs felt on fire any time he moved in the slightest bit. Not with the fact that Lotor had threatened his friends before. Who was to say he couldn’t do it again? Couldn’t go through with those threats and end his friends.  

He felt panic bubbling up in his chest but he forced it back down. He just needed to think of something happy, something happy, something happy. But his mind was drawing a blank as he stared at the plate of food. He wanted to cry. He needed to cry. But crying was like giving up and Lance couldn’t give up. He couldn’t - he would find a way out of here, he would, he would. But a part of him, who knew himself better than anything else knew that he wouldn’t. That he wouldn’t get out of here unless someone on the outside of Lotor’s place found him. And he didn’t even know if they could do that. He knew there were security cameras in the library, but he wasn’t actually sure those even worked if he was honest. So they may not even have a justifiable reason for searching Lotor- that of course was saying that someone had realized Lance was taken forcibly.

Something hollow inside him remembered Keith and how surprised and happy he had been when Keith asked him out. It was like he was floating on air for a bit. Of course, it was like that half of the time with the officer. With Keith being awkward, and funny, and just an incredibly guy. He… he didn’t want Keith to think that he was rejecting him. Logically he knew that Keith thinking that was the least of his worries, but he was panicking. Freaking out.

Lance wasn’t one to pray. He had never really believed in a god when he was younger, but his family dragged him to mass every sunday. It was more of a family thing than a religion thing. But right now, in the quietness of Lotor’s room, he whispered out a prayer.

“Dios, eres santo por encima de todos los demás, y toda la fuerza que necesito está en tus manos. Dios, eres santo por encima de todos los demás, y toda la fuerza que necesito está en tus manos.” He repeated the phrase he knew so well from his youth, in a soft tone despite the underlying panic that was lying just beneath his skin.

Something about reciting the prayer, settled into his bones and, for a second, Lance felt calm. Maybe it wasn’t permanent, but it was something. It was calmness and Lance relished the feeling he got from reciting the prayer. He spoke it five more times before his stomach growled. He sighed, using the hand that wasn’t chained to the bed to reach towards the cheese plate Lotor had left in the middle of them. He ate the grapes first, something not as sharp as the cheeses were probably. He didn’t really enjoy sharp cheeses, but for all he knew this could be his last meal. So, better to make the most of nothing.

He ate the food in silence, the static of silence filling his senses and he suddenly wished he could sing something from his childhood - something to give him hope. But he didn’t know what Lotor’s policy on sound was. He really didn’t.

The door opened again. Lotor stepped in and took in the scene in front of him.

He snarled, storming towards Lance. “Lance! What are you doing?! Depriving me of the joy of feeding you?!”

Lance scrambled back the food on the plate forgotten as he desperately tried to shrink away from the oncoming danger. Lotor grabbed the collar of Lance’s shirt, pulling his face in close as he used the other hand to grip his hair, forcing Lance to look him in the eye. “When I said don’t move I meant at all! Or do you not understand that!”

Lance flinched.  “I understand- I- I understand!”

Lotor’s grip loosened on both ends but there was an edge to his eyes that made Lance want to cry. Lotor growled at him. “Since you’ve denied me the joy of feeding the one I love you won’t be getting food for two days, Star.”

Lance stared at Lotor in terror as Lotor took a water bottle and placed it onto a stand next to the bed, before he turned in left in a rage. He paused before stepping out of the door completely.

“My star.” Lotor’s voice was soft - the edge in it had not gone away. “You need to know I’m doing this because I love you.”

And just like that Lance was once again alone. His thoughts swam. Lotor… Lotor really didn’t see what he was doing as fucked up did he? He really truly thought that Lance was into it and that Lotor was some sort of savior. He wanted to throw up, a pressure at the bottom of his throat as tears once again welled in his eyes. What was Lotor going to do to him? Lotor had all the power in this situation and it terrified him. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what he could do. He felt like he was repeating the same thing over and over and over again in an attempt to make sense of this entire situation.

His head pounded as he tried to make sense of everything. He glanced around to room. No windows. No lights beside a singular lamp on the bedside table. He shivered at the idea of darkness and used his good hand to flip the switch on the lamps. Light fled into the room and Lance felt a little better. He noticed a door to the right side of him and opened it, revealing a bathroom. He thanked god for that. Under his breath he recited another prayer in hopes it would have the same effect that it did earlier. It seemed, though, that he was out of luck. No calmness came to him, only discomfort and an aching feeling everywhere. He was finally relaxed enough that he could feel the pain that had been seeping into his bones. Lotor really had beat the shit out of him huh? So much for ‘love’.

Lance drifted to sleep with the knowledge that his stay here probably got a lot harder. The two days passed and Lotor didn’t come back for him. To be honest, he didn’t know how long it had been. He really didn’t. He had no perception of time inside the room, and he was lucky the chain extended enough to let him go to the bathroom and reach the mini fridge that was stalked to the brim with water. His stomach flared in pain after what  he thought was a day and he curled up. Food wasn’t going to come yet. After what felt like ages the main door opened and Lotor stepped out.

“Star.” he smiled at him. “I apologize for not getting here sooner. I’m a few days late, yes?”

Lance stayed silent, eyeing the food in Lotor’s hands. Lotor seemed to take this as a yes, and approached him. Lance knew better than to scramble back. Lotor carried a tray with a bowl on it, some crackers, and a glass filled with something that looked like lemonade.

Lance stayed silent and only spoke when Lotor asked questions. He complied as Lotor fed him, the fear of going hungry again sinking into his soul. Lotor stayed with him until he was called away on Galra business and the he would leave him. Then Lance would be alone again, left to his thoughts. The process would repeat until Lotor came back with food again the next day. To be honest, Lance was glad that Lotor hadn’t touched him all that much. There was nothing sexual Lotor did and Lance felt so very relieved. He was relieved by the fact that Lotor never attempted to kiss him. He was relieved that when Lotor did touch him, usually it was to okay with his hair or just… touch Lance. On his arm, or his knee, or tailing  a hand down his back. He hated it. But Lotor claimed to be a gentlemen. He said Lance wasn’t in the right mind for sex, and Lance couldn’t agree more. It also might have something to do with the fact that he hated Lotor with a burning passion.

The days started to blend together, and Lance had no idea how long he had been stuck. It felt like a year, but maybe it wasn’t. He didn’t know. He let himself become apathetic to everything around him. Feeling nothing was so much better than the anger and the sadness that consumed him so much of the time. Lotor hadn’t hit him or touched him violently, but Lance’s ribs still hurt and the mirror in the bathroom showed that the bruises were fading, but not enough. He knew better than to test Lotor. He knew better than to fight back.

He didn’t eat that much. He didn’t drink that much. There were times when he looked at himself and considered the unthinkable just to escape this fucking hell hole. His thoughts composed of Hunk and Keith and Allura. Of how much he loved them. Of how he wanted to be free. But he couldn’t be. There was nothing he could do. Nothing anyone could do. He grew detached to the situation. It was like he wasn’t even in his own body so much of the time. He withered away under the ‘care’ he received. He was miserable. Hopeless. He didn’t know what to do, and he wasn’t sure that he could actually do anything about it.

He didn’t know how long it had been. He just felt the coldness of the days drag on. This one was no different. There was a coldness in his bones as Lotor fed him something sweet that Lance didn’t know the name of. All was normal. Lotor got called away, and he seemed particularly pissed, throwing his phone on the ground besides the bed. He swore at Lance. “Stay fucking put!”

And then he was gone.

At first nothing occurred to Lance. This was normal. But a tingle rose to his fingers as he stared down on the floor noticing the small- now shattered- screen of Lotor’s phone. Lotor left his phone. Lotor left his phone.

His fingers twitched and a spark of life erupted from his lungs as he dove towards the phone, so so very grateful that the chain that was holding him to the bed was long. He gripped the phone, pressing the ‘emergency call’ option on the front page. He dialed 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Please help.” his voice cracked from lack of use. “My name is Lance Sanchez- I’ve- I’ve been kidnapped by a man named Lotor Zarkon- he he um- he lives in a flat above the empire- um-“

“Slow down sir,” The operators said, voice calm and stabilizing. “You said you were Lance Sanchez.”

“Yes, yes, that’s me.”

“You’ve been missing for a month and half. Where did you say you were located?” The operator informed him

Lance gulped eyes on the door. “A flat above a strip club called the Empire, located on the corner of Seamans and 28th.”

“We have several officers on route.” The operator’s voice hitched on the next question. “Where is Lotor?”

“He’s- he’s gone- he got a call and he stormed away but he- he left his phone-” Lance’s actions finally caught up with his brain. “Holy shit. Holy shit if he sees me on this phone he’s going to kill me, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.”

“Mr. Sanchez, take a deep breath.” The operator spoke softly. “In and out sir. You’re doing great. Do you want me to stay on the line or do you want to go and wait for the officers to arrive?”

“I- I, fuck-” Lance’s voice shook. “I need to- I need to go.”

“Alright. The closest squad car was three blocks away. Help will arrive soon-“

The operator’s voice was cut off by the door slamming open. Lotor stood, raking in the scene before him. He launches himself at Lance glaring as a earth shattering scream let itself out of Lotors throat. “What the fuck did you do?! What the fuck did you do, you stupid fucking whore?!”

Lance bolted, all the energy he had devoted to dodging Lotor’s blows - but the chain that held him wasn’t long enough for him to fully evade the wrath of Lotor. Lotor’s fist came down violently against Lance’s skin, sinking into the already fractured ribs and bruising them more. Lance let out a scream he was sure alerted the entire town of the going ons in the room. Lotor’s screams of anger covered up the sobs now escaping from Lance’s mouth. He felt like giving up - he needed to give up - but he couldn’t. His mind flashed to Keith and Hunk and Allura. He needed to fight. For them.

With a brutal scream he whipped the chain from the headboard, splinters shattering over him and Lotor as the headboard came down on them. Lotor cursed, but Lance’s arm was free. He bolted, praying he could run on adrenaline long enough to get outside the hell hole. He couldn’t. Lotor kicked him down as he flew through the door and into the wide hall. He had Lance pinned to a wall and it seemed that Lance wasn’t going to leave here alive, because in Lotors hand there was a beautiful silver knife. It looked like it was out of a painting but something told Lance that it was more deadly than anything he had ever encountered. He scrambled back, pressed against a wall as Lotor stalked toward him, throwing obscenities and looking like a madman.

Lance hated it. Lance hated that he had gotten so far, farther than he had allowed himself to hope in the time he was there, just to get pinned down by this psychopath. Lotors hand wrapped around his throat, constricting his airway, and Lance knew without a doubt that this was the end of him. This was the end of anything he could be. He closed his eyes. He couldn’t fight anymore. The door at the end of the hallway kicked open.

“UPD, get down on the ground!” Keith’s voice slammed against his ears as his eyes shot up and Lotor took him in a head lock, knife against his throat. Keith looked like he hadn't slept in days, pale skin and dark circles under his eyes. His gun was loaded and pointed at Lotor, but his eyes flickered to Lance, and something akin to relief stood in them.

“Keith!” Lance shouted, tears in his eyes as the knife dug into his throat. He wanted to cry out about how he hoped Keith would come for him, how he tried not to give up hope.

Lotor growled, “Star, silence!”

Lance flinched and Keith looked more angry than Lance had ever seen him. Shiro and an officer Lance didn’t recognize came up behind Keith, guns ready as well. Lance tried to open his mouth to speak again, but Lotor shoved the hand not holding the knife against his throat in his mouth as an attempt to stifle the sound of Lance’s voice. He choked out a sob as the knife dug father into his throat.

“Lotor, we have you surrounded,” Shiro was more serious than Lance had ever seen him, “Let Lance go and come peacefully.”

Lotor grinned fairal and angry, “Fuck you! He’s mine! He signed on with this the second he took a fucking job in my fucking club! He’s mine!”

“Lance isn’t anyone's,” Keith snapped, loud and angry, eyes pleading.

Lance knew that they wouldn’t fire until he was out of range but he had no idea on how he could get out of this. He didn’t know what to do as Lotors grip tightened showing his throat more. As he stared at Keith with pleading eyes he felt Lotor shake in rage.

“He’s mine! He’s fucking mine! You can’t take him from me!” Lotor growled his voice growing erratic, “He’s stripped for me! He sold his body to us the day he signed that contract! HE’S MINE! HE’S MINE! HE’S-”

Lotor screamed as Lance bit down on his arm as hard as he could, hard enough that Lance tasted blood. The knife pulled away from his throat as Lotor pulled back, cradling his hand to his chest in pain. Lance dashed towards the Police, collapsing in Keith’s arm. Exhaustion was catching up on him and he really didn’t know how to stay awake. Keith grabbed him pulling him behind the other two officers, as Lotor attempted to charge at them. Shiro fired. A bullet splintered through Lotor’s shoulder and he was down and out from the shock of actually getting shot. The third officer on the scene went to cuff Lotor and drag him outside as Keith held Lance in an embrace. Shiro kneeled down beside the pair.

“Lance,” He said, guilt in his voice, “I hate to do this, but i have to take a statement from you.”

Lance was shaking, fighting to stay awake, but he smiled, feeling relieved to be out of that fucking hell, “Can we wait till I get a shock blanket wrapped around my shoulders?”

The two officers nodded, and Keith carried Lance down the stairs. They went out the front of The Empire, were Police had barricaded the building. An ambulance was waiting on scene for the trio to arrive. As they got settled, Lance wrapped up firmly to combat with the winter chill, he spoke.

“I moved to the Uehara city when I got kicked out of my parents place,” He started, “I moved to this side of town. Rent was cheaper. I knew the dangers of living in this part of town- knew The Galra activity was horrible here. I didn’t care, I was out of my house and finally in the same town as my best friend. I moved into my apartment and that night Lotor came by. He gave me an ultimatum. Strip at his club, pay the Galra off, or no protection at all. I knew what it meant- I’m not an idiot. If I said no then chances are I would have been dead by next week. I couldn’t afford to pay them off so… I started stripping at The Empire.

Lotor was a good boss if we’re being honest. He shut things down when it got to much, and let us keep a baseline wage. It helped cover the actual bills if I’m honest. It soon became clear that it wasn’t enough though. I couldn’t pay for everything and so I took on another job. And soon enough that became to little, so I took on another. I took a job at Allura’s cafe, The Altean. That's when trouble started. You guys were investigating the club, and I was working for both people, and honestly it was the best time in my life. I finally had enough money to afford shit, my shitty ex boyfriend was out of my life, and Keith…”

He glanced at the man in question who nodded at him to go on, “And Keith and I had a thing going. Lotor- Lotor kidnapped me from my job in the library. The day Keith asked me out. I don’t- I don’t really wanna talk about-”

“Its okay,” Shiro interrupted him, “We have the video feed from the library. You don’t need to say that part. Can you tell us what happened while in captivity?”

Lance nodded, “Lotor… Lotor never did anything inappropriate to me- which is weird because he dressed me up like Slave Leia half the time and the other half was scraps of clothes. He fed me, he made use I had access to water…. but… he would leave me alone for long periods of time without food. Soon enough the days blurred together and I gave up. Stopped fighting. If I’m honest I stopped fighting the first time he starved me for two days. But that was that you know? And then today… he slipped up. He left his phone here. I called the police and the rest is history.”

Keith's arms wrapped around Lance’s shoulder and it was only then did Lance realize he’d been working himself up in five kinds of ways. He leaned onto Keith, grateful for the grounding touch that kept him connected to reality. He gave the same statement to the officers, and it seemed like everything was good to go.

The next few days went by in a blur of hospitals and police. He had quite a few cracked ribs and a concussion. Everything else looked like it was going to heal up just fine, even if it still hurt to move anything. Keith came to visit him every single day when he was in the hospital, their budding romance still going strong- stronger now that Lance was back from a month and a half in captivity. The two decided to wait for a bit before pursuing any romantic activity though. Lance had been through a lot and Keith was one of the officers who made the bust. They decided they would wait until after the trial- it looked like it was going to be a open shut case, and since it was a matter of the Galra, it was getting put on trial about a month after it happened.

Allura had rushed to his side once he was in the hospital, screeching that Lance should have told her, and that she could have helped. In the end it seemed like Allura was just so thankful that Lance had made it out alive. Allura and him ended up moving in together after Allura went on a rant about how she wanted him to have an actual safe place. She mothered him a lot, but was ultimately just the same. They still worked at the coffee shop together.

(Lance was afraid to admit it but he couldn't go into the Library again. He wouldn’t go into the library again. He couldn’t imagine himself returning to the place Lotor had mercilessly beat him and taken him hostage. But it was okay. He quit that job, and started working full time at The Altean. It was better like this if he was honest.)

He called Hunk, finally being able to after a hectic month of moving and hospitals and being saved. Hunk answered, “Lance! Buddy where were you? You didn’t answer any of my calls, I was worried!”

“Well,” Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “I’ve got a story for you. So um, first things first, if you interrupt me, I will hang up on you. Got it?”

Hunk sobered into serious mode, “Yeah.”

“Alright so,” Lance started,  “There are some things I haven’t told you that I should have- I wanna apologize for lying to you by the way but let me tell the story first. So. I worked as a stripper for a bit.”

“You what?!”

“Shhhh, Hunk, let me speak,” Lance’s voice was calmed than it sounded, “I worked as a stripper in a club run by Lotor Za’kon. But that's not really how the story begins. I was walking down Seamons street about… four months ago. It was really cold out so I had pulled my sweatshirt over my tighter as I made my way back. I knew Galra were watching me…”

And Lance told his story to his best friend, knowing that eventually, all would be well.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a ride now wasnt it? 
> 
> If you like it or hate it, please be sure to tell me by either commenting or shooting me a message on tumblr @LovelyLangst!


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